Chapter Thirteen – Kidnaped
Sonic was stunned. His brain was struggling to process that fact that they had just beaten the Mobian Authorities at their own game. He smirked. It wasn't just the 'power of the people', Magic had been involved as well. It had been incredibly gutsy for Sukko to do what he did, but hell, who cares, it worked, and Mobian Authorities still had no idea. Vector, on the other hand, looked less then impressed.
Vector was a large, green-skinned Crocodile with spiky red scales down his tail and golden-coloured eyes. His belly, snout and arms are light green, while the rest of his body is dark green. Vector wore small, black shoulder pads, white gloves with black-and-orange cuffs, embellished with gold buckles as well as black shoes figured with white and orange colours. He wore a gold chain around his neck, serving as his trademark accessory alongside his pair of black-and-grey wireless headphones, and the Crocodile is rarely seen without one or the other. He looked worried. He rounded on Sonic.
"Do they know?" He spat. Sonic looked back at Vector, the smile instantly disappearing from his face, himself worried. He knew exactly what the Crocodile was talking about. He gulped.
"Do the people of Mobius know how powerful my brother really is?" He stammered. He stared at the ground. "No." He admitted. "And we couldn't tell them either, not if we wanted their support in winning against the Mobian Authorities." He spat. He stood there panting. They all stared, including Charmy and Espio. Charmy was a little black-and-yellow Bee who flew right over to Sonic. He had striped antennae, translucent sky blue wings on his back, and honey brown eyes. He had exposed peach skin on his muzzle and arms, and a tiny black nose. He wore an orange vest with a bee emblem on the left, a yellow zipper, and a white collar resembling that of a polo shirt. He wore white and orange shoes cuffed with black rings and topped with yellow zippers, white gloves with similar cuffs, and a black pilot's helmet with a dark pink rim, alongside orange flight goggles. He looked deep into Sonic's eyes.
"But you know, don't you?" He asked, frightened. Espio quickly grabbed him, and pushed him under his arm. The purple Chameleon had a yellow horn between his gold eyes. His muzzle and the heart-shaped pattern on his torso are peach in colour. He had a ridge of three black spikes going down his spine and a coiled tail. He wore dark purple shoes with black accents, metal-reinforced arm bracers, and white gloves with dark purple pads on the backs. Around his wrists and ankles are bandage-wrapped cuffs with gold studs on the lower bands. He too looked frightened. Sonic sighed, he had to tell them the truth, otherwise he'd loose their trust. He hung his head.
"Sukko can match me one-on-one for power..." He paused. "With seven Chaos Emeralds." He breathed. The shock bounced around the room like a ping pong ball. Vector was dumbfounded. He was shaking.
"You mean in full Super Transformation?" He stammered. Sonic closed his eyes and nodded. Now the Chaotix were really frightened. It was extremely common knowledge that the only reason that Sonic, Silver and Shadow were accepted into society was that they didn't have all seven Chaos Emeralds, all of the time. They were only used when they were absolutely needed. They couldn't access that level of power without them, even Shadow, which did take some time for the people to believe. If what Sonic was saying was true, Sukko was the most powerful of them all, and could tap into that level of power, whenever and wherever he chose. It was simply too much for one person to have. Vector grabbed Sonic. He was panting.
"You can't keep this quiet forever." He heaved. He then began pacing around the room. He swore, despite Charmy's presence.
"Oh. What of he turns?" He squealed. Sonic growled, this suddenly really angered him. He had had enough of people thinking his brother would turn evil. He grabbed the Crocodile.
"He won't turn, Vector." He spat. "He's ME!" He almost shouted. He stared Vector hard in the eyes, and the Crocodile found himself looking through those deep emerald-green eyes to the heart of a true Hero. Anyone who knew how identical twins were made, knew that Sonic was exactly right. The Hero of Mobius stood his ground, and Vector finally backed down.
An enormous roar of sound, and a Sonic Boom, very high above their heads, signalled the arrival of someone obviously looking for Sonic. Vector gulped.
"What do we do?" He asked. Sonic growled at him.
"You!" He spat, meaning not just Vector, but the whole of the Chaotix. "Nothing!" He said, as he opened the door, to see his brother land in the middle of Sunset City, to masses of cheering and celebrations. He sighed.
"I'll deal with it." He announced, though he had no idea how. His brother was indeed sitting on that much power. They had both been feeling for some time, and now believed Sukko was indeed destined for greater things. Sonic frowned.
'Greater things. Properly not.' He thought, he himself had done great things. 'But definitely different.' He smirked. He left the Chaotix Detective Agency and was racing across the city to find Sukko.
Sukko was running on pure adrenaline, of the sheer excitement of having won against the Mobian Authorities. He had his freedom. Freedom to use his Magic wherever he chose. No more hiding, no more fear. He'd never had this before and it was rather going to his head. The cheering he received at both the Restoration and Sunset City didn't help matters. He knew Sonic was at Sunset City, but had no idea where exactly the Chaotix Detective Agency was, so decided to land in the centre of the city in the hope his brother would find him.
The welcome he received blew his brain, and upon seeing his brother running straight into his arms to huge cheering, made it all worth while. For the first time in his life, and properly the only time, Sukko threw all caution out of the window and became the brother of Sonic The Hedgehog.
"Oh, to hell with it." He spat. "Let's Party!" He cheered, and throwing his hands skywards, he immediately released a huge amount of Magic into the air, creating the illusion of enormous bright blue fireworks right across the entire city.
And what a party!
It went on for the rest of the day and all night. Sonic had never seen his brother so excited before, but Sukko had never had this much freedom before, either, and he went mad. There was lots of food at party and even more Magic. Anything anyone asked of him, he did, and for hour after hour, Sukko throw around more Magic then Sonic had even seen in his life. But Sonic didn't stop him, mainly for two reasons. One, this was his party, and two, the Magic was mainly showy, illusions for the crowds, there wasn't really any real power behind them. Sukko had to go deep inside of himself to find that level of power, and Sonic knew the look, and the Sorcerer just didn't go there.
However, what the Sorcerer wasn't used to was casting for such an extended length of time. The entire party. Sukko was more used to casting shorter but more powerful bursts of Magic and by the end, the drain had knocked him out, cold. The sun came up after the party, to find Sunset City in a absolutely mess, but the people happy. Sonic awoke on a sofa back at the Chaotix Detective Agency again. He always stayed at their place whenever he was in the area. The Chaotix seemed to have forgiven Sukko. He may have been powerful, but he had immense control, and an absolutely pure heart. Truly the brother of the Hero of Mobius. Plus they really enjoyed the party.
But Sukko wasn't with them. He passed out the other end of the city, and had been taken in by some locals Vector knew. They would see him later. But just after breakfast, one of these said locals burst into the Agency, through the door, making them all jump.
"It's Sukko, we can't find him anywhere." He stammered. Vector stood up.
"What do you mean you can't find him?" He demanded. The Mongoose looked terrified. "We took him in last night and put him down to sleep. When I woke up this morning, my house had been broken into and he was gone." He recalled. Gasps filled the room. Vector was shocked, he rounded on Sonic who had been unusually quiet during this time. He been concentrating on the Psychic Link. He couldn't hear anything, but could feel that Sukko was still alive, and now somewhat distant. He didn't dare say anything, just incase it compromised him. Vector sighed.
"Who the hell would kidnap your brother?" He asked, confused. Sonic looked up at him.
"Someone who doesn't know who their dealing with!" He growled.
The Sorcerer was indeed missing.
Sukko came too in a dimly lit room. He was stood vertically, chained at the wrists and ankles, several feet up a wall. He looked around. The smell and sounds of his location screamed one of Eggman's old bases, but as to which one, was unknown. Quickly realising what had happened, he immediately switched into Intelligence mode, a professional. He looked around the room, it was extremely dark, except for a small console computer ahead of him. The data shown upon it, Sukko didn't understand. He pulled on his chains and smirked. He could easily have broken through those chains and escaped, with his Magic, in snap of a finger, but Sukko's curiosity had been peaked and very much wanted to see this through. He sent a message to Sonic saying that was alright, but ordered him to stay quiet, as there Psychic Link might be overheard. Then he did nothing, and waited.
He saw someone milling around ahead of him. It was only now did Sukko notice that he'd been hooked up to some kind of equipment. Now he really frowned. What was going on?
"Remarkable!" The other person mumbled. "Absolutely, remarkable! The best Replica I've ever seen. That Fox's skill is incredible." He praised.
Sukko gasped. What!
The owner of the voice turned around and Sukko recognised him. Dr. Starline. The Platypus had white fur that covers most of his body. His beak is black-coloured and narrow with nostrils on the front, and he possesses red eyes, black eyelids, and a thick tail. He had three thick hair turfs on his head that are combed over the right. His front hair turf also possesses a grey highlight. He wore a purple and red-violet satin tuxedo with golden cufflinks, a red-violet t-shirt underneath, orange pince-nez glasses, and two grey webbed gloves. Starline wore a webbed brown glove on his left hand with a gold insertion clip and golden-tipped fingertips. A darker brown ring can be seen on the palm of the glove. Starline bore some kind of device on his left glove though the other appeared slightly charred, leaving behind a few patches of burned skin. He wore brown boots with golden buckles, red-violet soles, medium-high heels and upward-turned pointy toes and light red-violet socks underneath.
Sukko had been listening very carefully to him, and believed he called the device on his the back of his left hand, the Tricore, during his mumblings. It was a black, polished orb with a swirl on top of it. The swirl itself is made up of three colours: blue, yellow and red. The 'core' in Tricore caught Sukko's attention. Was it in reference to the single-use Power Cores? A Power Core temporarily gave enhancements to the user. Blue ones for speed, the yellow ones for agility and flight, and the red ones for physical strength and durability. Sukko knew of Power Cores, but never used them. The simple reason was that they, just like Chaos Emeralds, didn't work for him. Absolutely nothing would happen. It appeared that Sukko could access the Chaos Sorcery and nothing more. Appropriate, considering how good he was at it. They worked for his brother though. His eyes fell back on Dr. Starline. He walked up to Sukko, looking up at him and marvelling.
"You are exquisite." He leered, then taking a step back, he coughed into his hand. "Apologies. Let me introduce myself. My name is Doctor Starline and I have been following you. You have fascinated me ever since I heard about you from Doctor Eggman's work. Your design and build quality is superb, and your readings are off the charts." He announced. Sukko's frown deepened.
'Design and build quality?' He thought. 'What was he talking about?' He on purposely said nothing and didn't move. He now seriously wanted to know where this was going. The Platypus continued.
"I have been seriously impressed with your demonstration over the last few days of your rocket propel boosters and holographic projections in Sunset City. Quite amazing, though I can't physically see where you were projecting them from, but no matter, I will find out soon enough." He hissed, turning away from Sukko. The Hedgehog gasped.
Rocket propel boosters? Holographic projections? Did Dr. Starline believe him to be a some kind of robot? The Platypus looked back to see Sukko's complete confusion. He grinned.
"Ah." He leered. "The Fox never told you. You are a Replica, my good Sir." He hissed. "A perfect copy of Sonic The Hedgehog. Obviously built by Tails as a way of aiding the Hero in his recovering of the Metal Virus incident." He sighed. "That did hit him rather badly." He added. "But your build quality is excellent. An android, built with a synthetic organism composed of living tissue over a titanium skeleton. It's is design I have been perfecting and copying." He said triumphantly.
Sukko growled. He was astonished to find out that Dr. Starline had mistaken him for being a replica of Sonic. But he was no robot. He was a hundred percent organic, but he noticed the data on the console behind Dr. Starline, was reading Sonic's exact DNA on Sukko. It wasn't sensitive enough to find the hundred or so markers that told them apart. Only a super-high-end DNA tracer could find those. Now Sukko understood why the mistake had been made, but did the Platypus not know about identical twins? They were very rare but not unheard of. Sukko was desperate to find out more, but a scream straight down the Psychic Link completely distracted him.
Sonic had been driving everybody bonkers back at the Chaotix Detective Agency. He would not sit still. The hyperactivity going wild again. He was glad to hear his brother was alright but the order of silence drove him mad. He was desperate to find out what was going on and hated all this waiting around. The Chaotix were at their wits end with him, and on the verge of kicking him out, when something weird happened to Charmy. The Bee suddenly began flying round the room, in random directions, faster and faster. All attempts to try and catch the Bee failed, even from Sonic. But then he flew straight for Sonic, who was forced to dodge him, and straight into the wall. Sparks began flying from the kid's neck and as he fell to the floor, something explode out of Charmy's chest, spraying oil and blood everywhere. The shock caused them all to scream. Including Sonic, straight down the Psychic Link.
Sukko panicked. The last time he heard his brother scream like that they were very small children, and feared the worse. The inside of him was shaking with terror while the outside was staying a cool as a cucumber, as to not alight to Dr. Starline was to what was really going on. Having surveyed the situation, Sukko was now certain their Psychic Link was not going to be overheard.
{Sonic, what's going on?} He called. A very panicked voice answered him.
{Charmy's just killed himself flying into the wall.} He panted. Sukko frowned but there was a very long pause. Sukko got very worried.
{Sonikku?} He demanded. But a confused and now very calm brother answer him.
{A robot?} He frowned. {Vector's just picked up Charmy only to have a transformer fall out of the kid's chest. Trust me, only robots have those. But why?} Sukko growled.
{Replica!} He spat. But Sonic's further confusion down the Psychic Link, caused him to quickly tell his brother who and what Replicas were, and who was behind them. But Sonic frowned.
{Ok, that explains the blood. But wait, if the Replica is here, then where is the real Charmy?} He asked. Sukko didn't immediately answer, as Dr. Starline had returned to his console and the image in the monitor had changed to a world map, with thousands of beacons all over it, and one had just vanish in Sunset City. Sukko then stares in horror, when he realises what he was looking at and immediately messages Sonic.
{There should be some kind of transponder in that robot. Dr. Starline is going to know its gone down, as you guys are major players in the Restoration.} He called. There was another long pause down the Psychic Link, with a {Gross!}, and soon the beacon was back on the monitor, as if nothing had happened. Unfortunately, there was no indication on the world map as to Sukko's current location. He huffed in frustration, but Sonic was panting.
{How many Replicas are we dealing with?} He asked. Sukko sighed.
{Thousands. He must have been kidnapping people and replacing them with Replicas for months.} He growled. Sonic was shocked.
{Man, they had us completely fooled.} He said, looking back at Charmy. {I wonder how he got the emotions so good.} He asked. Sukko thought. Then Dr. Starline coincidentally mumbled something about someone called 'Miss Belle' and 'simulated emotions'. Sukko, having no idea, relayed the information back to Sonic. Immediately, the Blue Blur knew exactly what he meant.
{Belle is the wooden robot that Eggman made while as Mr. Tinker, ages ago. She the most emotionally charged robot I've ever met. If he's managed to copy those emotions across to the others, it would make sense.} He sighed. Sukko looked back at Dr. Starline, and saw how he was getting frustrated at the console not doing as he pleased. Sukko didn't have much time. His life was not in any danger, certainly not from the Platypus. He could easily Magically rip him to pieces if necessary, but wouldn't help those he kidnaped. He had an idea which quickly became a rather pressing matter.
{Sonic.} He said, quickly. {Dr. Starline believes I'm your Replica.} There was silence. Sonic was numb.
{What!} He spat. {But, your not!} He exclaimed. But Sukko cut across him.
{Yes but he believes otherwise. I think I can make him completely believe as he currently struggling to find my internal titanium skeleton. Hopefully then he will lead me to the missing people.} He growled. There was an another pause, and the person who replied was not his confused little brother, but the Hero of Mobius in full combat mode.
{Do it!} He spat. {And good luck!} He added, and signed off the Psychic Line. Sukko knew Sonic would never contact him again until he made the call. As to Dr. Starline's true plan with these Replicas, he had no idea, but decided to pretend to go along with it.
From behind the Platypus, Sukko subtly used his Magic, his eyes glowing for less then a minute, and the, as pale as possible, bright blue hue of luminescent vapour went down one of his chained hands to his fingers. Very slowly and gentle moving he fingers, he manipulated the read-out machine to suddenly find his non-existent internal titanium skeleton, and generated a series a fake readings associated with it. It was very delicate Telekinesis work, that took a lot of concentration from Sukko. He had to work quickly before Dr. Starline turned round to face him, spotting the Chaos Sorcery.
He didn't. It worked. Dr. Starline completely bought it.